Artichoke-Bean Ragout

This is one of CD's favorite vegetable stews, perfect for spring, when (in good years) artichokes are plentiful and inexpensive. Here, they team up with some of the usual go-with-artichoke suspects --- garlic, white wine, a lot of lemon --- as well as buttery-starchy lima beans and baby carrots. The combination is highly flavorful, tonic, bracingly lemony, a little different in each bite. It also proves, resoundingly, that to be full-flavored a vegetarian stew need not rely on hot chiles! You may be reminded of the Greek soup, and sauce, avoglemono, but there's nary an egg in sight.

Delightful with a good hunk of sourdough toast (the kind with a crust so crisp it tears up the roof of your mouth), it’s also outstanding over pasta or quinoa and is excellent done ahead and then reheated, too. It will keep up to a week in the fridge just fine, due to the preservative effects of the lemon juice, and is special enough to be served to company. Edamame, delicious slightly sweet green soybeans, are now widely available frozen. Substitute 2 cups shelled frozen edamame for a wonderful variation of this ragout.

6 large whole artichokes, cooked, or 2 10-ounce packages frozen artichoke hearts

cooking spray

1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 5 to 6 cloves), divided

2 ribs celery, diced

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons tomato paste

3 1/4 cups any mild vegetable stock, divided

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 to 1 inch dice

8 ounces ready-to-cook baby carrots (or 3 regular carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch lengths)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 package (16 ounces) frozen baby lima beans (or, if you are able to get them, 2 pounds fresh lima beans, shucked, to equal 2 cups after shucking)

2 lemons

1 teaspoon butter

1 tablespoon unbleached white flour

1/2 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Prepare cooked artichokes by breaking off cone of cooked leaves, then scooping out choke. Discard chokes; reserve leaves for another purpose (like eating with any of good yogurt- or tofu-based dip). This leaves you with 6 artichoke bottoms; the cup-shaped heart and stem. Cut each heart into quarters (if they are exceptionally large artichokes, you may cut them into sixths). You want big solid chunky pieces, in any case. Set them aside.

Make stew: Heat a cooking sprayed or non-stick soup pot over medium heat with 1/2 teaspoon of the olive oil. Sauté onion about 4 minutes, or until starting to soften. Lower heat slightly, and add 2 teaspoons of the garlic and celery, and continue sautéing, stirring often, another 2 minutes.

Add white wine, tomato paste, and 2 cups of the vegetable stock. Raise the heat to a boil, and drop in potatoes and carrots. Turn heat down to a simmer, and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Let simmer, half covered, until potatoes are almost done, about 15 minutes. Add frozen baby lima beans, stir well, and let simmer for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the lemon sauce. Grate the zest of the lemons. Then halve the lemons, and squeeze their juice, removing seeds. In a Pam cooking sprayed or non-stick skillet, heat the reserved olive oil with the butter. Add the flour, whisking. Let cook about 2 minutes, then slowly whisk in the reserved 1 cup stock and 1 teaspoon garlic, and the lemon juice and zest. Let cook 1 minute, whisking, then turn this into the pot with the simmering vegetables.

Add reserved artichoke pieces, stir well, and heat through. Add half the minced parsley, and taste to correct the seasoning. Serve, hot, with the remainder of parsley sprinkled over the stew.

Artichoke & Lima Bean Ragout, in Lemon-Garlic Sauce